On how to solve the biggest problems in the world, this is something worth reading:
"I think it's very important for people to recognize that the lack ofeducation for both boys and girls is a crisis in Africa," says GeneSperling, director of the Center for Universal Education at the Councilon Foreign Relations. "But the benefits of girls' education, in terms of improving health, women's empowerment, and family well-being, probably does make girls' education the highest-returning social investment in the world."
TheWorld Bank has found that when a country improves education for girls, its overall per capita income increases and its fertility rate drops. Other studies show that improved female education is linked to higher crop yields, lowerHIV infection rates, and reduced infant mortality.UNICEF's annual "State of the World's Children Report" calls gender equity - particularly in education - a "double dividend" for developing countries.
